


Farseeress

by Avelin



Category: Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Gen, Made-Up Backstory, Mentions of the End of the World, Prophecy, Reincarnation, Self-Indulgent Headcanon, Temporary Character Death, War of Transgression, because of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 19:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14879987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avelin/pseuds/Avelin
Summary: From the War to the End and beyond, the Seeress watches the world. From the heights to the valleys of her lives, she watches.Yeul in 100 words.(A self indulgent drabble challenge that accidentally turned into a mini-story.)





	Farseeress

Paddra is the centre of all.

This, Yeul – every Yeul – knows by heart and by teachings always new. Paddra is the centre: of religion and of mysticism, of the culture of Gran Pulse. Civilisation spread from it, enlightenment spread from it, education and equality and family and morals and everything good in the world. Paddra’s warriors are the finest and most disciplined, Paddra’s peace was eternal.

Until war spread from it, too.

Paddra is the centre of all. Here, Etro’s spilt blood created the first human.

Here, Etro’s blood will flow until the last drop of it dies at last.

 

_Ragnarök_ , she sing-songs, voice dreamy, eyes awash with divine gold. _Come O Day of Wrath –_

Her robes are heavy on her small frame, layers upon layers upon silken layers. Onyx and platinum and the glittering cobalt-blue of tempered crystal adorn her, from her crowned and veiled head over her petite body clad in lace and down to her glass-slippered, delicate feet.

Paddra’s immortal priestess. The Seeress that gives her family their awed name.

Next to her, all other clan chiefs and matriarchs look plain, no matter how richly they dress.

Her terrible beauty, her _so young_ age…

Nobody envies her.

 

She sings of the Wars of the World, she sings of history. She predicts and sees and hears and warns – said to the Dragonblooded: _have care of your lands, the skies will shatter them into the Wide Blue._

And so it happened. And so they lived, upon lands broken into islands, for her divined guidance saved an entire people.

She said to the Mountainvoiced: _have care of your beasts, for frightening thunder will scatter them from beneath your feet._

And so it happened. And so they prepared, their lives undisturbed.

The Seeress sees and warns, always.

And dies, as penance.

 

She is nine. She is four. Sometimes she is twelve, rarely fifteen. Once, she reached the twenty years of adulthood.

Golden is her gaze, and green like life; when she speaks, all bow to her. It is terribly lonely, even among those she would like to call peers.

But she remembers, always and forever remembers, and she is different. Etro is cruel, is kind in her alien way: Yeul can save her kin, if her struggles are futile enough.

And one day, they are. Outside, war is raging. Inside, all chiefs and war queens are gathered.

Yeul prophecies the apocalypse.

 

She dies. She lives. She dies, she lives, she sees, she dies. Over and over.

_O Pulse l’cie – embrace thy fate, thine home to burn; that fallen souls might bear our plea –_

Before her eyes, Cocoon is falling. Before her eyes, Cocoon is afloat. Before her eyes, Cocoon is unchanging crystal while the world crumbles beneath the black weight of Yeul’s prayers.

Beyond that … there is nothing.

They think she hides their victory, think she lies. Accuse her of deceit, when she never obscured even the most terrible of truths. Her face is blank, eyes golden; inside she weeps.

 

From Paddra the War of Transgression spread, the words of their Seeress calling even the most remote and isolated clans into the city. The Dov, the Ore, the Rom, the Yun and Dia, the Lehe, the Nesta; everyone upon the hallowed earth of Gran Pulse answered. The Seeress predicted, and she was never wrong:

The War was to be lost, but nobody who was told wanted to believe.

The War was to be devastating. The Nsu always knew, before Cocoon even lifted into the sky.

And the Farseers still know – it isn’t yet over. Not as long as Yeul lives.

 

This is her failing: Yeul is as human as everyone. And yet, Yeul is also _more_.

She was never l’cie. She is not fal’cie – but the crystal is inside her and the Invisible World is around her, and it’s a power that twists the world insidiously, mysteriously with ease. Though unasked for, it is hers.

She only ever wanted to be _same_ , to die and drown in the Chaos like everyone else. To live without possibilities flickering shadowlike over faces of people she speaks to.

But Yeul is different. Yeul was the first human.

And she will be the last.

 

_Saviour_ , she whispers in secret where nobody listens. _Vessel of the Sun._

Her eyes golden, she counts the ways the world will die: in crystal and in darkness, with surging water and hope and grief. _Patron, Dragon Thief. Saint and Scattered Mercy_ , she murmurs.

She sees the other Seeress, doomed to die. She watches the other Guardian, cloaked in a guilt that darkens his eyes and devours his smile until the shadows own him heart and soul. She weeps for them, prays for them – knows she condemns them with every breath she takes, every wish for things to be different.

When Yeul leaves Paddra, she is clothed plainly, her hair uncrowned. It is night, and the only light is the twinkling of stars. Through them Etro watches the world; kindly she lets Yeul do the same.

Everything ends, even Paddra’s eternal peace, and Yeul cannot stay, because it is not yet her time to die. _Goodbye_ , she says into the darkness. _I will return._

She is the Seeress, immortal by rebirth – she will return, when the land is dead and humanity dying.

And only then will she finally find peace in the Chaos, drown while her Guardian holds her closely.

 

One last prayer before darkness descends, and she splinters into fragments – one soul for each reflection, coalescing into poison. She fades and in the last seconds sees: slowly, slowly, the light inside the chaos brightens. _Descend, merciless lord. Cast thy light upon the souls of the departed –_

Yeul weeps.

Because ultimately, Cocoon falls. Inevitably, time breaks. Etro, her mother, dies of heartbreak; despair claims the remnants of the world in waves of black.

( _Yeul is the Chaos, she always has been._

_With the end comes sacrifice, a last penance. Yeul refuses to be among those saved: she chooses to stay._ )


End file.
